Perfect borders made easy

It still feels strange to say this out loud….my daughter is graduating this month.

Not from preschool, kindergarten, or even middle school. Nope, she’s graduating from high school! I’ve lost track of the amount of times that I’ve said (or thought, or been told) that time flies, and “they grow up so fast”…and now I’m facing the reality of those statements. My baby girl is all grown up!

Now I have a graduation party to plan! With the help of my Fiskars tools, I’ve created some fun projects to celebrate my daughter’s achievements…

Celebrating GrowthIt seems like yesterday that I waved as the school bus pulled away for the first time. It’s great to look back over the years, and see how your graduate has grown. I decided to create and frame a layout to use as a “centerpiece” for Hope’s grad party…allowing everyone to see how much she’s grown! [insert 2010grad_ksimeck.jpg] I used Fiskars Woodland Tree shape template and the Ultra ShapeXpress to cut a tree shape for the background of my layout. I then added photos from each year of school, mounted onto tags (punched using the new Fiskars Tag Lever punch). Looking for other ways to show how quickly your child has grown? How about creating a mini-album with a page dedicated to each grade? Or a 2-page layout that allows for extra space to add details about each grade?

Cash for CollegeThe best gift for you high school grad? Cold hard cash! It’s super easy to create a money-holder card to slip in a few bills for your grad using Fiskars Tools.

I created a card base from cardstock using Fiskars Premium Paper Trimmer. After scoring the card fold, I scored an additional fold along the bottom to create an inner pocket to hold checks or cash. I wanted to mimic the fun shapes on the patterned paper, so I used the double round tag shape from Fiskars Tags Template. Border punches and squeeze punches make adding extra dimension a breeze!

Older & WiserI know that graduates think that they’re prepared for the big, bad world…but in reality they still have so much to learn! I created this simple flip book using index cards for graduation party guests to jot down their words of advice for my daughter. It’s a great way to remember who attended the party (an alternative to a guest book), and a fun way for guests to share their sage advice!

To create the book, I trimmed cardstock just slightly larger than the index cards, and rounded the corners with Fiskars Round the Bend corner punch (my advice? Keep this punch handy!). I punched a hold in the upper corner, and attached a binder ring to keep the book together. I decorated the cover with a few simple punched shapes, using Fiskars Square-a-licious and Oopsie Daisy squeeze punches. Super simple, and super cute!